Listen my children and you shall hearOf the midnight ride of Paul Revere,On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;Hardly a man is now aliveWho remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, "If the British marchBy land or sea from the town to-night,Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry archOf the North Church tower as a signal light,--One if by land, and two if by sea;And I on the opposite shore will be,Ready to ride and spread the alarmThrough every Middlesex village and farm,For the country folk to be up and to arm."

It was a dark time for the Empire. Their industry appeared to be slipping away, with unrest in the american colonies. On the heels of Lexington and Concord, and Bunker Hill, King George III saw fit to declare the American colonies in rebellion:

"Those who have long too successfully laboured to inflame my people in America by gross misrepresentations, and to infuse into their minds a system of opinions, repugnant to the true constitution of the colonies, and to their subordinate relation to Great-Britain, now openly avow their revolt, hostility and rebellion. They have raised troops, and are collecting a naval force; they have seized the public revenue, and assumed to themselves legislative, executive and judicial powers, which they already exercise in the most arbitrary manner, over the persons and property of their fellow-subjects: And altho' many of these unhappy people may still retain their loyalty, and may be too wise not to see the fatal consequence of this usurpation, and wish to resist it, yet the torrent of violence has been strong enough to compel their acquiescence, till a sufficient force shall appear to support them.

"The authors and promoters of this desperate conspiracy have, in the conduct of it, derived great advantage from the difference of our intentions and theirs. They meant only to amuse by vague expressions of attachment to the Parent State, and the strongest protestations of loyalty to me, whilst they were preparing for a general revolt. On our part, though it was declared in your last session that a rebellion existed within the province of the Massachusetts Bay, yet even that province we wished rather to reclaim than to subdue. The resolutions of Parliament breathed a spirit of moderation and forbearance; conciliatory propositions accompanied the measures taken to enforce authority; and the coercive acts were adapted to cases of criminal combinations amongst subjects not then in arms. I have acted with the same temper; anxious to prevent, if it had been possible, the effusion of the blood of my subjects; and the calamities which are inseparable from a state of war; still hoping that my people in America would have discerned the traiterous views of their leaders, and have been convinced, that to be a subject of Great Britain, with all its consequences, is to be the freest member of any civil society in the known world.

"The rebellious war now levied is become more general, and is manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent empire. I need not dwell upon the fatal effects of the success of such a plan. The object is too important, the spirit of the British nation too high, the resources with which God hath blessed her too numerous, to give up so many colonies which she has planted with great industry, nursed with great tenderness, encouraged with many commercial advantages, and protected and defended at much expence of blood and treasure.

And so passed the King's proclamation of October 26, 1775. The news of the King's abject rejection of the Continental Congress's olive branch reached the Colonies on January 1, 1776. Instead of a speedy resolution, it spawned full-out war.VS

The shock of Lexington and Concord was heard around the world. No one could believe that these 13 colonies comprised of nothing but small factions of rag-tag militias would dare challenge the supremacy of the largest and wealthiest nation on Earth in Great Britain. At this point, it was obvious that there was no turning back for the 13 colonies. King George III had rejected the Olive Branch Petition and General Richard Montgomery launched a failed attack in an attempt to capture Quebec in the Winter of 1775. There was more good news on the Patriot front early in 1776. Commander of the Continental Army George Washington, had captured Boston in March of 1776 and forced the British to evacuate. However, the Patriots realized that such early successes could not cause over-confidence. The full weight of British military and naval power had not even come close to being seen yet on this side of the Atlantic. The Patriots looked to the only natural ally they could find, France. The revolution could not sustain itself without the economic, industrial, and most importantly, military power that the French state under King Louis XVI, had to offer. Washington called over MWB from the French state in an attempt to strengthen and organize his rag-tag militia. However, MWB was gunned down before he could make any sweeping changes to the Continental Army with the realization that he would never become, "The Hero of Two Worlds".